Careful what you tweet for

21/10/09 posted by Liz Niland

There’s mixed news on the world Twitter front this week.

On the back of teen starlet Miley Cyrus’ Twitter exit, other stars and their studios have been backing-off from regular updates on the microblogging service.

Concerned about confidentiality breaches, major movie stalwarts such as Disney and Dreamworks have began including clauses in the contracts of writers and actors requesting utmost care to be taken when using social media. Even the smallest comment by somebody of note can cause traditional media outlets to go into a spin.

A swine flu joke, for example, was taken well out of proportion when it was tweeted by an executive producer for Fox television series, Bones. And as Cyrus put it in her departure rap, “Everything that I type and everything that I do, all those lame gossip sites take it and make it news.”

Lesson from this? Read your contract and use caution when spreading information that could come back to bite you. Use social media to promote; but only when you’re sure you can begin promoting.

If you’re a court reporter though, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll be allowed to get your tweet on during the proceedings. The current legal drama unfolding between internet service provider iiNet and the Australian Federation Against Copyright Theft (AFACT) saw journalists not only take notes, but also upload important case details to their Twitter feeds.

Although there was concern that this could place them in contempt, judge Dennis Cowdroy couldn’t see a problem with the technology and allowed it to continue. As reported in The Australian, Justice Cowdroy noted that Twitter can inform the public about court proceedings in a way not possible through traditional media. "On the basis that Twittering does not distract or interfere with the conduct of my court, I personally have no objection to its use," he said.

"I believe that the public has a legitimate right to be fully informed of proceedings, particularly proceedings such as (the iiNet case) which have attracted considerable public interest.”

It’s great to see that Australian courts are moving with the times and allowing journalists to use new technologies that enhance their reportage.